Brake-lever.



J. & W. GONNELL.

BRAKE LEVER.

APPLIOATION FILED SEPT. 24, 1908.

930,045. Patented Aug. 3, 1909.

Q nuentod I I I MW 6M,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN CONNELL AND WILLIAM GONNELL, OF OLIMAX SPRINGS, MISSOURI.

BRAKE-LEVER.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed. September 24, 1908.

Patented Aug. 3, 1909. Serial No. 454,584.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN CoNNELL and WILLIAM CoNNELL, citizens of theUnited States, residing at Climax Springs, in the county of Camden andState of Missouri, have invented new and useful Improvements inBrake-Levers, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention pertains to brake levers for use on wagons and the like;and it contemplates a brake lever construction which is at once simpleand compact, strong and convenient to operate, and is adapted to beapplied to and used in combination with the ordinary segmental rackssuch as at present in general use.

The novelty, utility and practical advantages of the invention will befully understood from the following description and claim, when the sameare read in connection with the drawings, accompanying and forming partof this specification, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation illustrating our improvements as the sameappear when positioned on a wagon body, and also illustrating in dottedlines the relative arrangement of the upper member of the lever and thepawl when the lever is placed to apply the brakes. Fig. 2 is a detailperspective view of the upper member of the lever comprised in ourimprovements. Fig. 3 is a detail view of the lower member of the saidlever.

Similar letters designate corresponding parts in all of the views of thedrawings, referring to which:

is a segmental rack designed to be fixed in the ordinary or any otherapproved manner at one side of a wagon body (not shown), and havingratchet teeth on its upper edge. The said. rack is also provided, bypreference, with a whip socket a.

B is the lower member of the lever comprised in our improvements. 0 isthe upper member of said lever, and D is a pawl with which the upperlever member is adapted to cooperate in the manner hereinafter set forthin detail.

As clearly shown in Fig. 1 the lower lever member B is pivoted at b tothe rack A and is provided at its upper end with a head or enlargement cin which is a vertically dis posed slot at extending in the direction inwhich the member B is designed to be moved and arranged in a verticalplane at the inner side of the maj or portion of the member. At 0 weprefer to connect the lever member B with an ordinary brake rod 6, butit is obvious that the said lever member B may be connected with a brakebeam in any other manner consonant with the purpose of our invention.

The upper lever member C is pivoted at f to the lower member B andextends through and is adapted to swing in the slot d of said member B.At its lower end and forward side the said upper lever member is beveledas shown with a view of avoiding interference with the pawl D when thelever is moved in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 1 to apply thebrake and of disengaging the said pawl from the ratchet teeth of therack when the lever is swung in the opposite direction to release thebrake. The said pawl D is pivoted at g to the upright maj or portion ofthe lever member B, and its point is arranged to engage the teeth of therack A, while its tail 7 is arranged in the path of the lower end of theupper lever member C so as to be depressed by said lower end when theupper arm of the member C is moved toward the left in Fig. 1.

In the practical use of our improvements it will be readily understoodthat movement of the upper arm of the member C toward the right will beattended by similar movement of the lower member B, this because of thebearing of the upper member against the right hand end wall of the slotat in the enlargement c on the lower member B. It will also beunderstood that the said movement of the lever members C and B will beattended by free riding of the pawl D over the teeth of the rack A,sufficient clearance for the vertical swinging movements of the saidpawl being afforded between the same and the beveled lower end of thelever member C, and when the lever is moved to the extent desired thepawl will prevent casual retrograde movement thereof and consequentlywill hold the brakes on.

WVhen the brakes are applied and the driver desires to release the same,it is simply necessary for him to swing the upper arm of the levermember 0 to the left or rearwardly, when, as will be manifest, the lowerend of the said member C will by depressing the tail of the pawl D, movethe said pawl out of engagement with the teeth of the rack, and then thelever as a whole may be moved or permitted to move rearwardly to theextent desired.

It will be gathered from the foregoing that the upper member 0 of thelever is the only I tect and lessen element that need be grasped andoperated by the driver; and it will also be gathered that by virtue ofthe arrangement of the said member C, relative to the lower member B,pressure on the lever member C in either direction is directlytransmitted to the member B, and the construction as a whole is renderedstrong and durable and this latter notwithstanding its simplicity andcompactness.

When the lever member 0 is in the position shown by dotted lines in Fig.1, the said lever member bears against the forward end wall of the slotcl in the lower lever member B, and ample room is afforded by thebeveled end of the lever member C for the play of the pawl D necessaryto the travel of the pawl in a forward direction over the teeth of therack. It will also be observed in this connection that the rear andcomparatively heavy portion of the pawl is, with the lever member C inthe position shown in Fig. 1, always free to seat in one of theinterdental spaces of the rack. On the other hand, when the upper arm ofthe lever member C is moved toward the left in Fig. 1, the lower beveledend of said lever member C moves to a position above the tail of thepawl D and engages said tail and depresses the same so that the rearportion of the pawl is raised from the rack and free movement of thelever member B toward the left in Fig. 1 is permitted.

By reference to Fig. 1 it will be seen that the pawl D is arranged atthe inner side of lever member B and normally lies entirely in 7 rear ofthe forward edge of said member B with the result that the latter servesto prothe liability of the tail of the awl being broken while in use. Itwill also be observed that the lever member C acts after the manner of acam against the upper edge of the pawl tail to depress said tail, andthe tail does not offer any angular projection to the lever, but on theother hand the lever rests entirely above the pawl when the latter isdisengaged from the rack.

Having described our invention, what we claim and desire to secure byLetters-Patent, is:

The brake lever construction described, com rising essentially thesegmental rack, the ower lever member pivoted below the rack and movableat the outer side of the same, the pawl arranged above the rack andpivoted, at an intermediate point of its length, to the inner side ofthe member and normally lying entirely in rear of the forward edge ofthe member and having a tail the upper edge of which is smooth and freeof projections throughout its length, and the upper lever member pivotedat an intermediate point of its length to the lower member, above thepawl, and movable to a limited extent with respect to the lower memberand having its lower end beveled at its forward sideland opposed to theupper edge of the In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands inpresence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN CONNELL. WILLIAM CONNELL.

Witnesses:

JOHN R. BATOHELDER, BEN. F. KING.

